Up Teide, out to the whales.
The cable car to Spain’s highest peak, whale boats off Los Gigantes, stargazing under skies protected by law, and the misty green north: what each one is really like, what it costs, and where to book.
Seven you’ll book before you land.
First trip or fifth, these carry the week: the cable car up Teide, a whale boat that keeps its distance, the water park the kids will not stop talking about, and a night under the clearest skies in Europe.
Siam Park Entry Tickets
Full-day entry to Siam Park Tenerife in a Thai-themed paradise with a 91-foot shark-tank drop and a 10-foot wave pool, plus optional add-ons.
From $52 per person
Read the review →
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The whales are always home.
A resident pod of pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins lives in the warm strait off the south-west coast, so the boats find them on most days of the year. Choose a calm catamaran with a swim stop, a small no-chase yacht, or a fast cruise under the cliffs of Los Gigantes.
Which way up Teide?
Everyone climbs the volcano; the right way up depends on your day. Three honest versions, from the easy cable car classic to a night under the stars, each one already reviewed and priced.
The classic
Cable car to the crater
7 hours · from $102 · 5,094 reviews
The one everyone pictures: a coach up through the pine forest and the lava fields, then the cable car to 3,555 metres for the crater walk and a view that runs clear to Gran Canaria. Pickup and the timed cable car ticket, which sells out at the door, are usually built in.
See the cable car days →
After dark
Sunset and stars
3 - 6.5 hours · from $47 · 3,812 reviews
Stay up top as the sun drops below the cloud line, then swap to telescopes once it is properly dark. The summit sits above the weather and the skies are protected by law, so the Milky Way shows up the way it does in the photos. Dinner is often part of the deal.
See the stargazing trips →
Your own wheels
Quad the back tracks
1 - 4 hours · from $56 · 2,839 reviews
Skip the tour bus and take the forest tracks and old lava trails up yourself, solo or two to a quad. Slower to the top, but the day becomes the drive rather than the ticket. Day and sunset departures, with the gear, the guide and the pickup all included.
See the quad trips →
You came for the sun. Stay for the stars.
The summit rises clear of the clouds and the island guards its darkness by law, which is exactly why the astronomers built their great telescopes up here. Ride up for the sunset, stay for the constellations through a guide’s scope, and come back down having seen the Milky Way with your own eyes.
Long lunches, local wine.
The island eats slowly. Tapas by the harbour, a guachinche up in the hills pouring its own rough red, a banana plantation that ends in liquor, then heels and guitar over dinner at a flamenco show. Book the table that counts.
Quads, wings and throttle.
Not everyone comes to lie by the pool. Take a quad up the lava tracks toward Teide, open the throttle on a jet ski along the south coast, or step off a cliff above Adeje under a paraglider and ride the thermals down to the sand.
The north keeps the old Tenerife.
Cross the spine of the island and the package resorts vanish. Up here it is banana terraces and black-sand coves, the thousand-year dragon tree at Icod, cobbled squares in La Orotava, and the laurel forest of Anaga wrapped in cloud. A guide turns a long drive into a proper day.
Pick your corner of the island.
Tenerife works in pockets, and each one is an easy day. Costa Adeje for the boats and the beaches. Teide for the summit. The north for old towns and cloud forest. Los Gigantes for the cliffs.
Know what you’re after?
Twelve ways to spend a day in Tenerife. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of morning, and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Leave the resort behind.
A fast ferry reaches La Gomera before lunch, and a full-island loop takes in Teide, the Masca gorge and the dragon tree in one long day. The far corners of Tenerife are closer than the map makes them look.
Three days, the Tenerife way.
You cannot see all of Tenerife in one trip, but you can absolutely nail the first three days. This is the run we would hand a friend flying into the south tomorrow.
Day 1
Get on the water
Ease in on the south coast. A morning whale cruise out of Costa Adeje, a swim stop over the turtle bays, then Siam Park in the afternoon while the flight wears off. Warm water, no rush.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Up to the summit
The big one. Cable car to the crater in the morning while the air is still clear, then stay up top for the sunset and the telescopes once the stars come out. Book the cable car slot ahead.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Into the green north
Cross to the other side of the island. The hairpins down into Masca, lunch in a mountain village, the laurel forest of Anaga, and the dragon tree at Icod on the way home. Slower, greener, older.
Plan day three →
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